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Beading on a Budget Tips — Using Gemstone and Glass Beads

Bead Types
Beads for jewelry making come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and materials, and can be purchased at any beading supply store. You can purchase gemstone beads shaped as hearts, circles, squares, triangles, stars, and animals, just to name a few. Beads can also come simplistic, such as seed beads or glass beads, which can be used as spacers or accent beads. Beads can be made out of a wide variety of materials, such as glass, bone, pearl, gemstones, and metal. If you are looking to keep the cost down on your beading, look for faux finishes on glass beads that mimic precious metals or stones.
Getting the Look of Gemstones without the Price
If you want the look of gemstones, but don't want to spend the money, there are a wide variety of faux finishes on beads to choose from. Howlite, for example, is a soft white stone which is dyed to look like gemstones. You can purchase stones that look like turquoise, jasper, opal, and more. Soak the howlite stones in warm water and dish soap prior to making your beaded jewelry. Natural howlite is white with gray streaks running through, with a look similar to that of marble.
Bead Mixes
Bead Mixes are a variety of beads that coordinate well with one another. One use for bead mixes is to create matched jewelry sets. Sets often come with seed beads, glass beads, lampwork beads, and come coordinated with each other. This can be a great way for a beginner to learn how to mix and match beads without spending a lot of money on supplies.
Wholesale Beads: Discount
Wholesale technically refers to a company selling items at a discount to licensed businesses who resell the products in some fashion. However, there are some jewelry supply stores that will offer wholesale prices to individuals who purchase items in bulk. The actual discount in both cases usually depends on the quantity purchased and can range from half off or more. Wholesale jewelry supplies, including wholesale jewelry findings and beads can be found on many online stores like jewerlyplus.net by Beaded Impressions.
Indian Beads
Inexpensive beads can come from around the world, and India is known for its beautiful India Glass Beads. Regardless of where you buy the beads, they will probably have a white powder on them. That white powder is known as kiln wash. It is used on kiln shelves to prevent the glass from sticking to the shelf and on the metal rods used to form the hole in the beads. The powder you see is the leftover residue. It is non toxic and it can simply be rinsed off with water.
Wearing Collectible Beads
If you are looking for an inexpensive way to wear your collectible beads, you may want to check out memory wire. Memory wire will retain its shape after it has been bent or coiled. Simply measure out the length needed for a choker, bracelet or other jewelry, add your beads and bend small loops at the ends to keep the beads from sliding off. If you want to swap out the beads, simply straighten one end of the hook, swap out the beads and remake the loop.
Buying by the Bead or Partial Strands
So you've located the perfect beads for your project, but found out they are too costly for an entire necklace or bracelet strand. Simply because you are beading on a budget does not mean you have to sacrifice beauty. Consider using that bead as a focal bead on your jewelry piece. You can surround that perfect bead with complimentary beads and spacers to make an elegant piece of jewelry.
Buying Closeout Beads
Closeout beads are generally beads that the store cannot restock, so they wish to sell their supply at a discount. There are nothing wrong with these discount beads, but be aware that you may not be able to find more for other projects. Buying closeout beads is a great way to build your stock with beautiful beads while staying within your beading budget.